Starlit Swim
by Crimson Elemental Alchemist
Summary: Three girls from Kagome's time join the IY group. One, Kaya, is the newest of the three and, oftentimes, unpredictable. One night while she was enjoying a nice bath under the stars...Ha! You'll have to read to find out! JakotsuxOC.


_Disclaimer: I do not own _InuYasha_ . . . but I am falling in love with all the characters on it . . . damn bishounen . . . ._

_Crimson: Behold my latest creation! Starlit Swim! **sweatdrops** I need to come up with a better title . . . ._

_InuYasha: You got that right! Feh. You and your stupid stories make me sick!_

_Crimson: Hm? What was that InuYasha? **rubs sleep from eyes** Sorry, must have dozed off . . . ._

_InuYasha: **sweatdrops** Go back to sleep! I mean, if you're going to nod off just like that, then you'll trouble me whenever we get into a battle . . . ._

_Jakotsu: Inu-chan, she's already asleep._

_InuYasha: What?!_

_Jakotsu: I said she's already asleep. **picks Crimson up and carries her to bed** When I come back we can have some alone time, InuYasha!_

_InuYasha: O.o I'm outta here. **pulls on door handle and realizes it's locked** Damn!_

* * *

**Chapter One–**

**Surprise!**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

"Bankotsu, brother," Jakotsu addressed the Shichinintai's leader as he followed him through the woods, "where are we going?" A dry twig snapped beneath his foot as soon as he finished speaking. They had been traveling through the forest all day; the sun was already on its journey down to the horizon. Renkotsu and Suikotsu rode atop Ginkotsu, but Jakotsu had decided to walk alongside Bankotsu for most of the trip. Even though he should have been used to this life as a mercenary, Jakotsu still felt his leg muscles burning with the unwanted exercise. And he desperately desired a bath so he could wash all the dried blood out of his clothing and skin that had accumulated from all their fun at that wayward village the day before. Jakotsu sighed dramatically as his elder brother ignored him yet again.

* * *

"InuYasha! We'll be back in three days!" a female voice yelled in defiance. The villagers who heard the outraged cry only shook their heads, never breaking the rhythm in their work. Such loud commotion had become quite common in Kaede's village, ever since a certain hanyou had awakened from his fifty-year-old spell. They took no notice of the three strangely-attired girls appearing on the crest of a hill; the black-haired girl leading the way with an inuhanyou screaming in her ear at her side.

"Have you forgotten about the Shikon Shards, wench?!" InuYasha's loud complaint had Kagome stopping dead in her tracks. The red-garbed male, realizing his error, suddenly backed up with a fearful look in his eyes. His golden orbs scanned the icy, still stance of his female companion. "K-Kagome?" he finally stuttered with a pleading note lacing his voice.

"InuYasha . . ."

InuYasha's fluffy, white ears flattened to his skull at the impending doom he saw coming for him.

"SIT!" the young miko's angry voice awakened the power of the Beads of Subjugation locked around the inuhanyou's neck. InuYasha's body lay prone on the ground as an immense gravitational force flattened the foolish pup.

"Y-you . . ." InuYasha growled into the dirt, unable to rise from his inglorious position. Kagome sighed in exasperation, waving a farewell as she took off into the forest at a run. The two girls who had been walking behind the feuding pair had already made it halfway to the Bone-Eater's well.

One of the girls, Caira Tamaya, had long blonde hair tied back in a low ponytail. She wore a blue T-shirt over which was a long jean jacket, and she had on khaki pants that enhanced the paleness of her skin. Her green eyes looked straight ahead, never wavering from the path. A blur of red and black caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She heaved a sigh as she realized what it was.

The "blur" had come from her best friend, Holly Dammon (aka Sora), who could contain herself no longer and decided to swerve off to the side to grab a beautiful flower standing amongst some weeds. Her strangely colored hair reached just below her shoulder blades in an array of crimson and black. The odd thing was that her hair was completely natural–she had been born that way. Blue jeans and a simple white T-shirt was all that clothed her form. Sora straightened up after picking the pure white flower. She was walking back to an impatient Caira when their miko friend finally caught up to them.

"Hey, guys!" Kagome greeted them brightly, an embarrassed smile gracing her features. "Sorry about that. InuYasha can be such a pain." The schoolgirl seemed to growl as she voiced the last part. She stomped past the two girls who smiled knowingly at each other. Caira shook her head and continued on after Kagome, making sure to cover Sora's mouth before she could say anything to upset the simmering miko further.

* * *

"They should be coming any second," a teenage girl whispered to herself, sitting on the rim of an old well which itself was situated in the midst of a darkening forest. Kaya gave a half smirk at the thought of seeing her two old friends again. Oh how surprised they would be! Her expression became thoughtful as her mind began to wander into the past. Oh yes, they would indeed be surprised about quite a few things. A lot had happened to her since Caira and Sora had moved to Japan from the U.S. four months ago.

"Kaya-kun?" someone questioned in shock albeit quietly. It was still enough to knock Kaya back into the world of reality. She blinked away the remnants of her memories. "Kaya?" The woman in question watched as her two best friends stood at the edge of the trees, staring at her in awe. Kaya smiled nervously at them, getting up from her seat slowly as if the very air itself was spun from glass and would break if she so much as sighed. She knew what was coming. "What the _hell_ are you doing here?!" shouted a somewhat-angry Caira.

"Kaya-chan! What a great surprise! When did you get here?!" this, of course, was the ever-optimistic Sora. She grinned at Kaya who returned it with a small smile of her own. Sora then turned on a frustrated Caira who was currently rubbing sore temples with her fingertips. "Oh, come on! You knew she would have followed us to Japan eventually. And God knows she's intelligent enough to figure out what's going on if two of her best friends were nowhere to be found and Higurashi Shrine was right around the corner." Sora had put her hands on her hips to enforce her side of the argument. Kaya sighed at the display, dreading the long battle between those two. Yet she still smiled because at least she was here with her friends once again.

"I don't care! It's dangerous here and she can get hurt. And I don't want that . . ." Caira bit out. "Naraku has already used _you_ as bait once before, until he figured out just what you were, that is," she added the last part under her breath out of habit even though everyone present knew about the situation. Kaya's expression softened at this uncharacteristic display of affection from Caira. "If Naraku ever found out about Kaya . . . ."

"Well then, let's just not tell him, shall we?" Kaya concluded brightly, grabbing Caira's hand with both of her own. "And if he finds out that I'm here, then so what?" she shrugged her shoulders in emphasis. "I'm nothing special, you know, especially when compared to Sora. Naraku will be more interested in her than me." She hoped that she was telling the truth. After all it was impossible to tell what Naraku would take a liking to. Still, her friends had to let her travel with them! She couldn't stay separated from them any longer. "Besides, I'm older than both of you anyway. Even if you treat me like your kid . . . ." she added the last part under her breath, but more in amusement than irritation.

"Um. Well, I don't see anything wrong with letting her travel with us," Kagome thought out loud, a bit confused as to the age difference amongst the three. The friends turned to the miko. In all the surprise, they had momentarily forgotten about her. "I don't want anyone hurt either, but we need all the help we can get if we're going to defeat Naraku," she got a serious tone in her voice and a glint of determination sparked in her eyes. "Besides, from what you two have told me about your friend in the States, she'll be welcome." Kagome grinned at the girls, waiting for their decision.

Kaya returned her attention to her two friends. "You've been talking about me?" she asked innocently, brown eyes blinking in surprise. "About what?" She cocked her head to the side in a habit she had picked up somewhere.

Caira coughed nervously into her hand. "You know, just about how nice you are, your artwork, your _knowledge_ on swords, magic, etc. Just the basics." She passed it all off with a simple wave of her hand, slipping past Kaya to make a run for the well.

"Wh-what?!" Kaya's cheeks burned bright-red.

"Hm? Was it all a lie?" Kagome asked Sora as they both followed after a disappearing Caira. Sora shook her head in the negative. She whispered something into the schoolgirl's ear just before they both leapt into the well, leaving a highly embarrassed and confused Kaya behind in the clearing.

"Caira, I'm _not_ that omniscient. And about the magic . . . ." Kaya looked up from the well, gazing off toward the western sky. "I'm never dabbling in it again." The wind picked up and blew through the fabric of Kaya's black sweater. Not a single shiver passed over her skin as the sudden gust cooled the air around her. The sun was about an hour away from the horizon; an hour away from sunset. Kaya stood there for a few minutes, mulling things over in her mind until a couple ideas took her interest. Suddenly spinning on her heel, the young woman ran to the Bone-Eater's Well and leapt into it.

* * *

Jakotsu clasped his hands together in happiness soon after Bankotsu said they'd set up camp for the night. They had passed by a hot springs not far back which meant . . . he'd finally get his bath! After building the fire and consuming the rice and sake they had acquired on their last village rampage, Jakotsu hefted his "Snake Bone" blade onto his back and headed off to the springs (he had tried to persuade Bankotsu and the others to join him, but strangely enough they had steadfastly refused). It wasn't long before he arrived at the steaming water. The night sky reflected in the pools of hot liquid, speckled with billions of stars.

Jakotsu put his hand on the obi of his kimono when the gentle splash of water greeted his ears. The sound was soon followed by a sneeze. An angry scowl replaced the serenity of his features when his ears picked up the unmistakable _feminine _note in the sneeze. The mercenary removed the sheath from his trick blade and followed the noise around a large cluster of boulders. He peeked around the last boulder separating him from his prey and nearly collapsed right then and there.

Jakotsu stared at the maiden in the springs. It did not appear as if she were actually bathing–it was more like she was contemplating something . . . while she was naked. The girl had long silver hair, white as the moon, and skin that was so pale it looked marble-white. The steaming water lapped at her chest, just barely concealing her breasts. Jakotsu nearly fell again. He had _not_ just looked _there_! Never! He was just looking at the markings above _them_! Wait, markings? Jakotsu's eyes darted back to the girl and rested just below her collar bone. There were two silver markings–one inside the other–on her chest where her heart rested. One was in the shape of a crescent moon. It encompassed (at least, partially) the second marking that was merely a circle. Jakotsu ventured a guess that the circle symbolized the new moon.

"Who's there?" the bathing woman demanded, sinking her body into the steaming water and looking around carefully for the intruder. Jakotsu frowned. At what he didn't know, he just frowned. The girl's silver hair glided on the surface of the miniature pool as her head turned this way and that in search of him. How did she sense him anyway?

With a careless shrug, Jakotsu stepped out from behind the jumbled pile of boulders. "What do you want, woman?" he snarled at her menacingly, eyes narrowed threateningly at the female in the water.

Kaya blushed when she realized who had been spying on her. She couldn't speak past the lump that had formed in her throat which, she knew, would only anger the gay mercenary even more. Desperately, Kaya cleared her throat quite audibly which intensified the crimson taint on her cheeks, but at least she could speak now.

"I'm only bathing and wanted to know who was watching me," she said in a small voice, turning away from him out of a combination of modesty and embarrassment. She decided it was time to get the hell out of there. If Jakotsu–the female-hating, gay mercenary–wouldn't kill her, then at least one of his other brothers would. A powerful grip on her upper arm made her halt any form of retreat, and it pulled her towards the owner. Kaya looked up frantically to see Bankotsu trying to hoist her up on dry land. Apparently he had heard the small commotion and came running to see what excitement was taking place. Kaya growled audibly at him, behaving somewhat like a dog or wolf. The leader of the Shichinintai merely grinned at the display.

"What a lovely pet you would make for us," he smiled at her, ceasing his plans of trying to get her out of the water, but keeping hold of her arm, nonetheless. Kaya frowned at him, deciding on not speaking at all. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jakotsu acquiring an unhappy frown. It seemed Bankotsu was being serious about the whole pet-thing. Kaya mentally sighed in exasperation. Great. Caira was going to kill her . . . .

"What's your name?" Kaya only looked at Bankotsu with incredulous eyes. He couldn't be serious! He was talking to her like he _wasn't_ the leader of a gang of killers; as if he was only a gentle man who sought to be her friend!

Taking mental note of her silence, Bankotsu decided that he liked this strange girl. "Well then, I'll call you 'Silence', eh? It seems to suit you," he said as she stood up. Looking down at her, he crossed his arms and grinned. "Now, Silence, come on out and get dressed. We're camping for the night." He raised an elegant eyebrow as the girl refused to move. "Or I could just kill you and be done with it."

Ah! There it was! She knew it was in there somewhere–any killer's first instinct: kill or be killed. Kaya huffed and hugged her arms to herself, nodding at the Shichinintai's leader. Bankotsu walked over to the pile of boulders and leaned on them, eyes closed, waiting for her. Kaya growled under her breath about stupid fates and dead people. She cursed off a list of dead people she knew (all of the Shichinintai were included in this list . . . several times) as she climbed out of the water and dressed speedily. Her life was just one disaster after another lately. What happened up there in the cosmic planes to cause all this havoc? Or did the gods just like messing with her? Stupid fates . . . .


End file.
